Letter from Gertrude Mary Clarke to her nephew, Cyril Fairchild
From: Letter in the AtticThe letter consoles and supports Cyril Fairchild in his decision to be with his new ‘female companion’ against his mother’s wishes and also provides reassuring advice on hereditary health complaints.
Gertrude provides counsel on health, diet and psychological issues and shares her views on why his mother had not been able to take care of him when he was a child. She refers to the railway workers’ and miners’ strikes in Cardiff as the main cause for Thomas Fairchild (her brother-in-law and Cyril’s deceased father) having to uproot his family and move to Brighton.
Gertrude also mentions difficult times when she was twenty. Her brother died of consumption and it was assumed by the parents of some children at the school where Gertrude taught that she too had consumption. The parents wanted Gertrude removed threatening her family’s meagre income of one pound a week.
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